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June 16, 2012 at 10:06 am
“Civilization and society rests on morals, morals rest on religion, religion rests on the Bible and faith in God and in Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn’t condemn any man because of his wealth! The Bible says any man who don’t provide for his family is worse than an infidel. According to our standard of gold and silver, Abraham was worth a billion and a half dollars, David was worth three billion, Solomon was worth five billion! Solomon could have carried Andrew Carnegie for a butler … and John D. looked to black his boots! America needs to be taken down to God’s bath house and the hose turned on her. The time isn’t far distant when the wheels of God’s judgment are going to go scraping through this old God-hating world!” — evangelist Billy Sunday, 1929
Wrote a song about it this year using this guy as an intro. I don’t know if it’s uniquely American but the diseased twisting of religion into a flavor of US Christianity making avarice and meting out punishments to the lesser into virtues has long been part of the country’s soul. I was just rereading Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-Sided” yesterday and there’s a chapter entitled “God Wants You To Be Rich,” built entirely on the philosophies manifest at the juncture of the Republican Party and the superchurch fundie Xtrians.
“Using religiosity to justify rewarding the wealthy — investments equal virtue, and clobbering the poor — lack of money equaling degeneration, is a common theme in the United States.”
June 16, 2012 at 3:42 pm
It’s the heritage of Calvinism, in which earthly success was seen as a sign of the elect.
Today they are seen as a sign of the elected.
Also, too, and then.
June 29, 2012 at 6:49 am
The Sermon on the Radio
Limbaugh. 5:3-13
3 Blessed are the physically wealthy,
for they shall rule the earth.
4 Blessed are those who are not Mexican,
for they will not be deported.
5 Blessed are the bankers,
for they will foreclose on the meek.
6 Blessed are those who cause others to hunger and thirst,
for they shall be called capitalists.
7 Blessed are the merciless,
for they will be called good businessmen.
8 Blessed are the corporations,
for they are people too.
9 Blessed are the war profiteers,
for they will be called good Americans.
10 Blessed are those who persecute because of self-righteousness,
for theirs is the pulpit and podium.
11 Blessed are you when you insult others, persecute others and falsely say all kinds of evil against others because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward on earth, for in the same way persecuted the great conservatives who were before you.
June 29, 2012 at 7:40 am
What she said.
June 29, 2012 at 7:50 am
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